1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a library device and, more specifically, to a library device with which an accessor can move even when a cartridge is ejected out from a magazine onto a transport path on which the accessor moves.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a library device in general, a magazine is placed inside a device main body as a casing, and a plurality of magnetic tape cartridges are housed inside the magazine.
Further, the magnetic tape cartridge inside the magazine designated by a control module is taken out by using an accessor placed inside the device main body and transported to a magnetic tape drive, and prescribed processing is executed in that magnetic tape drive. Further, inside the magazine of the library device, there is provided a cartridge lock mechanism for preventing the magnetic tape cartridges housed inside the magazine from being ejected out of the magazine under a normal state.
As a technique related to the library device described above, there are a magazine and a cartridge for a library device with which the cartridge is loaded to the magazine only when the direction of the cartridge at the time of loading the cartridge to the magazine and the direction of the magazine at the time of inserting the magazine inside the device are proper (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2001-14825 (Patent Document 1), for example).
In the library device magazine and cartridge disclosed in Patent Document 1, a plate spring of the magazine is placed in a space generated by a tapered part of the cartridge when the cartridge is housed properly in the magazine, so that the plate spring is not ejected out from the magazine. Further, also known urea housed-object protecting mechanism which protects the housed object such as a cartridge from falling down due to shaking and from being taken out freely, a protection method thereof, a protection program thereof, and a library device (see Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication 2008-210474 (Patent Document 2), for example).
In the housed-object protection mechanism and the like disclosed in Patent Document 2, a door open/close mechanism section is automatically returned to a closed position through winding a coil spring to a supporting shaft and having the restoring force thereof work between the door and a side plate.
Further, a door lock mechanism section includes a plurality of stoppers supported rotatably from an upper edge and a lower edge of each door, in which an engaging hole for engaging a single stopper is formed in a top plate, and an engaging hole for engaging another stopper is formed in a bottom plate.
However, in a typical library device, when an unexpected oscillation or impact is applied to the device main body in a state where a magazine is placed inside the device main body and a cartridge lock mechanism of the magazine is released, a magnetic tape cartridge inside the magazine is ejected out on a transporting path on which an accessor moves and may fall out from the magazine in some cases.
This causes such an issue that the accessor cannot move because of the ejected or fallen magnetic tape cartridge.
As a result, the system has to be stopped. In order to reopen the system, it requires a manual operation, e.g., a worker pushes in the ejected magnetic tape cartridge inside the magazine and engages it to the cartridge lock mechanism, etc. This develops into an issue of having influences imposed upon the productivity.
Further, the library device magazine disclosed in Patent Document 1 is in a structure with which the cartridge is loaded to the magazine only when the direction of the cartridge at the time of loading the cartridge to the magazine and the direction of the magazine at the time of inserting the magazine inside the device are proper. Thus, it cannot deal with a case where the cartridge housed inside the magazine is ejected out on to the transporting path of the accessor. Therefore, the system has to be stopped as in the above-described case.
Further, the housed-object protecting mechanism and the like disclosed in Patent Document 2 are structured to lock the cartridge housed inside the cell with the door lock mechanism. Thus, as in the case of Patent Document 1, it cannot deal with a case where the cartridge housed inside the magazine is ejected out on to the transporting path of the accessor, so that the system has to be stopped as in the above-described case.
In order to overcome each of the above-described issues, it is an exemplary object of the present invention to provide a library device with which the accessor can move even when the magnetic tape cartridge is ejected out from the magazine onto the transporting path on which the accessor moves.